LENO HITS NINE-WEEK HIGH IN 18-49 AND TOTAL VIEWERS WHILE FALLON REACHES 13-WEEK BEST IN 18-49

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — April 11, 2013 — “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” topped their ABC and CBS time-period competition for the week of April 1-5 in the 18-49 demo, total viewers and other key categories.

Leno had his best week in 18-49 viewers and total viewers in nine weeks while Fallon hit a 13-week high in 18-49 viewers.

For the week, Leno delivered bigger audiences than CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman” in every key ratings category — adults, men and women 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54, plus total viewers. Fallon was the winner in every key measure against ABC’s “Nightline” during their head-to-head half-hour and versus CBS’s encore “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.”

Leno has now delivered bigger 18-49 audiences than “Late Show” for the last 20 weeks in a row and topped “Kimmel” for 11 of their 13 head-to-head weeks. In total viewers, Leno has out-delivered “Late Show” for 24 weeks in a row and for all 13 weeks since Kimmel moved to 11:35 p.m.

Fallon has now generated bigger 18-49 audiences than “Late Late Show” for 25 of the last 26 weeks and prevailed in total viewers for 22 of the last 24 weeks. Versus ABC’s newsmagazine “Nightline” in their head-to-head half-hour, Fallon has out-delivered the ABC series for 13 weeks in a row in viewers 18-49 and nine of the last 10 weeks in total viewers.

With 1.8 million viewers overall, Fallon delivered his biggest Monday overall audience in nine weeks (Jan. 28, 1.9 million). With 2.0 million viewers tuning in Wednesday, it was his biggest for that night of the week since Sept. 5, 2012 (2.1 million viewers).

Leno and Fallon performed a duet at the start of the Monday “Late Night” and Wednesday’s “Tonight” and “Late Night” telecasts followed NBC’s announcement that Fallon would succeed Leno as host of “Tonight” in the spring of 2014.

WEEKLY AVERAGES

(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of April 1-5. Ratings reflect “live plus same day” data from Nielsen Media Research unless otherwise noted. Season-to-date figures are averages of “live plus seven day” data except for the two most recent weeks, which are “live plus same day.”)

“Colbert, on the other hand, is full of energy and is a joy to watch.”

That kind of argument makes enormous sense to me.

When Leno moved into first place in 1995, Leno and Eubanks had just found each other and were radiating. It was incredibly magnetic against the backdrop of Dave’s grimacing, self-conscious angst.

Not trying to jump the gun on this Colbert/Stewart thing. We don’t have that many data points yet on Colbert’s ascendancy. But it sure looks like something is going on.

Nick

Gary, Letterman has been winning in households, or at least comes close to Jay, for awhile now. Yet he always comes up 400,000-600,000 short in viewers. HH means nothing.

Douglas in TN

In a way it makes sense for CBS, if they continue using the Late Show moniker, to move it to LA, although the show has such a New York identity.

Many of us would hate to see the Ed Sullivan Theater fall into another state of disrepair. It’s CBS’ premiere facility again. Back in the late 1980s it was a pitiful site…like a haunted house full of rats. An eyesore really. Many of us Letterman fans didn’t feel that Letterman and the Ed were a perfect fit, but at least the theater got a spectacular facelift. (The city helped with that too back in 1993…so the NY deal with NBC isn’t new.)

jcfreder

Colbert doesn’t outright say one political party sucks?

Gary Middleton

Douglas, there is no chance the Ed Sullivan Theatre will fall into disrepair. The NYC real estate situation has changed dramatically.

There will be people dying to turn it into condos, but assuming it has some historic site protection it will still sell for a fortune for use as a theater.

Gary Middleton

“Gary, Letterman has been winning in households, or at least comes close to Jay, for awhile now. Yet he always comes up 400,000-600,000 short in viewers. HH means nothing.”

I don’t think it’s meaningless, Nick. Last week Jay had more than a 10% edge in HH. This 20% swing in Dave’s favor should make it a real contest, since 20% more households by definition represents more than a 20% increase in viewers.

If I could easily go back and find the HH averages during those close February sweeps contests I would, but it’s too much of a slog since the “Daily” option only goes back a couple of weeks.

jcfreder

HH is quite meaningful once you account for the fairly consistent relationship the HH average has to the total viewer numbers. Harder to tell this week because Dave is only going to have 2 days counted. Here are my projections:

TOTAL VIEWERS
Jay 3.48M
Dave 3.42
JKL 2.39

18-49 RATING
Jay .86
Dave .79
JKL .61

kscottk11

If how Comcast operates their TV cable monopoly is an example of how they’re going to run the NBC Network, then the home viewer is going to have a “rough ride” with NBC Television.

jimbo

As i’ve said before, people that watch Leno wont watch Fallon, slower, friendlier pace of the tonight show…Look for NBC to fall even farther than 5th place before they get their heads out of their butts…

Gary Middleton

Jimbo, I am a Leno person who will almost certainly watch Fallon.

I was one of the people who didn’t even understand why they gave Fallon a talk show. Thought it was a terrible idea. Didn’t particularly enjoy him on SNL and saw no evidence he was suited to the late night format.

Yet when Jay was canceled the first time in 2009, I found that Fallon’s was the only late night show I watched. Without even really thinking about it, I just gravitated there. Below the surface, it has far more in common with Leno’s Tonight than any other late night show.

Ann

I’m one of the people who watch both Jay and Jimmy F, but since I’m over 49, people my age don’t matter. I’m still not sure what flies as 12:35 will fly at 11:35. Jimmy’s ratings tend to be higher that Ferguson’s, but Jimmy has a better lend in with Jay than Ferguson has with Dave.

GARebelman

I also watch Fallon and Jay and I am 26 (kinda puts a hole in only senior citizens watch Jay). I enjoy Fallon’s show though some of his bits are horrendous at times. Though I enjoy his interaction with the guests.

Douglas in TN

As somebody who grew up watching Carson with black hair, going into the 70s with the graying hair, I grew fond of Fallon’s show pretty quickly. His show reminds me of a Carson early 70s show…before the shows became overly per minute scripted. Carson’s show was often silly…and I see a lot of that silliness on Fallon’s show. I see a similar twinkle with him as well.

Near the end, Carson’s show, like today’s shows, were basically infomercials for celebrity products. Earlier, however, Carson always had on celebs just for fun or a good discussion. I see a lot of that returning…some genuine conversation. Jay Leno just can never take his eyes off his cards to have a sincere conversation.

Gary Middleton

There are few if any sincere conversations on Fallon’s show and that is highly unlikely to change.

They’re bad for ratings, because viewers in this era don’t have the patience for the conversationalists to find their way to a point. In 1971, when there were 5 channels and no internet, they did.

Brad

I’m like Gary. I too didn’t care much for Fallon when he was on SNL. I remember watching Weekend Update, watching the hot sweaty mess that was Jimmy Fallon spewing mock news at the audience, and I thought how after SNL I hope he doesn’t get his own TV show. He can’t even get through a sketch without laughing.

After that though and what he’s been able to do in his two movies, I began to really like him. I still cannot believe the future host of the Tonight show is the same sweaty kid who can’t control his laughter. I really like his show and I think it speaks volumes as I went from a hater to a fan.

Douglas in TN

What is the deal with the word “hater?” Recently the meaning of the word has changed. When one is accused of disliking someone, or if somebody offers a criticism of someone or something, they are labelled as a “hater” or being “hateful.”

Last week I was accused of being “hateful” about Jay Leno, and I challenged that person to find where I wrote anything about Leno that bordered on the definition of hate. Even the goofy Neal, whose obsession with Conan O’Brien is bizarre, I wouldn’t label as “hateful.”

Hate and its variations is a very strong word, and the mutilation into this current context is sad for there is still much hate in the world.

Brad

Douglas, what is this? The Charlie Rose Show? Why do the interviews have to be so serious. I wish Fallon could be when any political guests come on to the show. However, the other interviews are great because they are fun and quick and get to the point. I also love it when he plays a game with a guest.

Gary Middleton

Good day for so many of the shows to be in reruns.

Perhaps many will tune in tonight for remarks from the Boston native on TBS.

Ann

I watch Fallon but I have to say he would be in trouble trying to conduct any kind of serious interview with anyone. Interviewing is definitely not his strong suit. His gushing like a school girl while interviewing music legends does get a bit much at times. Getting guests to participate in games is fun and gets them to let their hair down. Where else can you see Tom Cruise smash two raw eggs on his head?

Ann

@Gary

“Perhaps many will tune in tonight for remarks from the Boston native on TBS.”